Best Surround Sound Headphones For 2019

Finding the best surround sound headphones for you

Today, we’re going to walk you through our selection of the best surround sound headphones in 2019. By the end of this article, you’ll have found the best surround sound gaming headset for your needs, and (hopefully) experiencing it for yourself within the next few days. You’ll learn that a good pair of headphones can make the difference between a good gaming experience and a great one!

If you have any questions about specs, jargon, or how to actually choose from our selections…don’t worry. We’ll include a buying guide below to help you out.

The AUKEY GH-S4 Gaming Headset is a great pick for gamers on a budget. While “AUKEY” may not be the first brand you think of when it comes to quality, their output has been fairly solid so far. There will always be cut corners to keep prices low, but in terms of sound quality and build quality, this is a surprisingly strong offering- especially for its price.

There’s also the ability to retract your mic. The mic itself isn’t much to write home about- honestly, it’s pretty weak. However, it is retractable, which is a surprising bonus for a product in this price range. Another surprising bonus is the built-in lighting. While this may be a cheap headset, it doesn’t really feel or look the part,

Make no mistake: the other, more expensive headsets on this list are definitely better. But for just over $25, this headset can’t be beat for its price.

The SteelSeries Sibera 150 is our pick for best budget surround sound headphones. For not much more than the AUKEY headset listed above, you get a fairly meaningful increase in voice and sound quality, especially for the price. You also get a low-profile mic built into the left earcup, which means you don’t have to worry about a protruding mic getting in the way of anything.

There’s also RGB! It’s a very subtle RGB implementation, but it being there at all for this price point is a nice bonus. For those who like to customize their headsets just a little bit more, that light RGB will probably scratch the itch just fine.

Unfortunately, there is a tradeoff for all this. Simply but, this headset isn’t built to be very durable, so you’ll need to treat it carefully if you don’t want to risk it breaking on you. While this is an unfortunate downside, it’s an understandable one: sacrifices need to be made for tight budgets.

If you want a great pair of wireless surround sound headphones for under $100, then the Corsair Void PRO RGB wireless headset is one of your best options. For your money, you get a respectably large and well-built headset. The sound and mic quality are both fairly good for the price, and the passive noise cancelling is also surprisingly good.

Corsair makes good stuff- for the hardware enthusiasts reading this article, that’s no surprise. So, what about everything else?

Well...the RGB is disappointing, which is unusual for Corsair. You’d think that one of the RGB industry leaders would have done more than lazily slapping on an RGB logo and calling it a day, but unfortunately...that’s what they did. Even Corsair fans should be disappointed by this.

Another issue is poor battery life, especially with the aforementioned RGB enabled. You think Corsair would pack in a better internal battery, especially for a headset sold at this price, but...that didn’t happen here.

On the bright side, the software solution used here is full-fat Dolby Atmos, which is considered the best in the industry. Your actual gaming experience should be great, just mind the battery life.

The HyperX Cloud II Headset is our pick for best 7.1 surround sound headphones under $100. This is one of the products where we feel like you’re getting a really good deal for your money, and we’re about to explain why.

First up: build quality and comfort. The aluminum build and memory foam ear pads combine to make a superbly solid and comfortable experience, which is especially important for extended gaming sessions.

The noise-cancellation is great, too. It’s so good it’s almost scary, at least according to this Amazon reviewer. If you want a headset that lets you get truly immersed into your game with no outside interference, then the HyperX Cloud II seems like a pretty strong choice. By all accounts, the sound quality is also fairly good for this price point.

So what’s the catch?

Well, the cross-compatibility. While it’s great that you can also use this headset with consoles, its chief feature- 7.1 surround sound- doesn’t actually work on console! This is very unfortunate for people looking for a console gaming headset, though to be fair...standard stereo can be pretty good for spatial awareness, too.

Also, this is the point where we start breaching the $100 price tag. Prepare your wallets.

The Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum RGB headset is Logitech’s best surround sound headphones. While Logitech is an undoubtable industry leader in mice and keyboards, though...this headset is a little bit more complicated than that.

First and foremost...we really only recommend these when they’re on sale for under $100. Otherwise, other options in the sub-$150 price range will probably treat you better. This is fairly unfortunate, considering how well Logitech usually does with their hardware. So what’s the big problem?

It’s just a bit overpriced (at full price) for what it accomplishes. The sound quality is great, and the mic isn’t half bad, either, but for up to $150, that’s pretty much the bare minimum. It’s also cross-compatible with consoles, which is a nice extra for those who use multiple platforms for their gaming.

The main place where this headset excels is its chosen surround sound solution. A full-blown Dolby-powered surround sound solution is always nice to have, especially when you want improved spatial awareness in your games. There’s also a nice RGB implementation here, which isn’t nearly as lazy as Corsair’s.

A big issue, though- especially for the asking price- is the strength of the cable. Since this is a wired headset, a weak cable is a particularly potent point of failure...and this headset seems to have a weak cable, at least according to some angry Amazon reviews. We recommend treating this headset fairly carefully if you end up buying it.

At the time of writing, though...this headset is on sale for $50. That’s actually a stellar deal, and if it’s still on sale when you read this...jump on it.

We’re going to go ahead and get this out of the way: the only reason to get this one is if you want the best wireless headset under $150. In terms of actual sound and mic quality, there are plenty of better options in this price range for you to choose from.

Where this headphone shines is in its aesthetics, its build quality, and wireless capabilities. With the ability to link to two Bluetooth devices at once, this is a great headset for those who are frequently switching between devices. The headphones are built incredibly solid, as you’d expect from headphones being sold in the $100+ price range, and the aesthetics are remarkably clean and refined.

Also, there are dual mics built into the earcups. This does improve aesthetics, but seems to come at the cost of mic quality, which is fairly mediocre for the asking price. The actual sound quality isn’t all that great, either, but the surround sound aspect of it all still works fairly well.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver S gaming headset is easily one of the best surround sound headphones on the market, especially for $130 or less. For your money, you get a truly stellar Dolby-powered surround sound solution, equally-stellar build quality, and fairly good sound and voice quality. This is one of the products with very few caveats worth speaking of, but we do still need to talk about those caveats.

We were remiss to find any negative reviews about build quality or software issues or sound or anything like that. Instead, the problems seemed to be around fitting...specifically for larger or smaller head sizes. Once it’s actually on, though, it seems to be fairly comfortable and enjoyable for extended use.

Also, this headset costs a pretty penny, especially when it isn’t on sale. You’re definitely getting your money’s worth with this headset, though, and it helps establish HyperX as one of the best gaming headset brands out there.

Sennheiser is an infamous name in the audio industry. They are known first and foremost for audiophile-grade audio products, so it stands to reason that they would knock a mere gaming headset out of the park.

Your reasoning would be correct. The sound and mic quality on display here is easily among the best this roundup has to offer. If it weren’t for our #10 pick, in fact, we’d go as far as to say that it’s probably the best.

Where the catches begin is in pricing. The MSRP of these headphones start just under $150, which is a pretty penny for most consumers. (Ignore the $250 Amazon listing price- that’s far inflated versus Sennheiser’s own numbers, and Amazon themselves are selling it for just under $100 at the time of writing.) These are awesome headphones, if you can afford them.

The only other catch is actually getting the surround sound working, which requires some software tweaking. Make sure you install the appropriate Sennheiser software before jumping into any games!

Another great high-end contender is the SteelSeries Arctis Pro headset. While it may not boast the sheer sound quality as our Sennheiser headsets, it does come with a lot of extra features of its own to set it apart.

Particularly useful for gamers is a USB ChatMix Dial. Essentially, this feature allows you to turn a dial on your headset to adjust the audio balance between your game audio and your voice chat audio without the need to alt-tab out or open the Windows volume menu. If you’re the kind of gamer who frequently voice chats with friends or teammates while in game, this feature will instantly become a must-have.

Aside from pure utility, you get about what you’d expect from a high-end headset.

Where weaknesses seem to arise is in inconsistent build quality. A few users report a short life on this headset, and a bad RMA experience with SteelSeries whenever this happens. While these complaints aren’t so overpowering that we think you should avoid the headset, we definitely think you should be cautious about the RMA and returns process. Use a camera and record everything, that way they can’t wrongly deny you an RMA if things go wrong.

Last but absolutely not least is the Sennheiser GSP 100 Professional Gaming Headset.

Good lord.

This is pretty much just an audiophile-grade pair of headphones with a high-quality mic and superb software surround sound slapped onto it for good measure. We’re confident when we say that this offers the best sound quality, mic quality, build quality, and even noise-cancelling in any gaming headset we’ve ever seen. These are the best 7.1 surround sound headphones, period.

The only issues are its price- which is very high, still about $200 on sale- and the setup. You’ll need to install both Sennheiser’s software AND set up the device properly in Windows in order to get in-game surround sound working. This is pretty much the only thing that the Amazon reviews are complaining about: in every other area, these headphones exceed.

However...there aren’t any real extra features, like RGB. Sennheiser has a very no-frills approach here: build the best darn headset we can, then sell it. Anything that isn’t necessary for a great gaming experience isn’t here.

Buying The Best Surround Sound Headphones For You

In this section, we’re going to help you make the best pick for your needs. We’ll do this by breaking down key specs and jargon, as well as explaining all you need to know about surround sound headphones.

Let’s get into it.

Why bother with surround sound?

First and foremost…why bother with surround sound at all, headphones or otherwise?

The simple answer: spatial awareness.

With a surround sound setup, especially in a first or third-person shooter, you’ll be able to clearly identify individual sounds and the direction they’re coming from. Whether that’s a McCree getting ready to flashbang you in Overwatch or the telltale boom of an AWP in Counter-Strike, this kind of spatial awareness is vital for staying competitive. There’s a lot more going on in a given game than what’s on your screen, and having a good audio setup allows you to be aware of more of that than you otherwise would be.

Plus…you get the added benefit of immersion, too. You don’t need to be a competitive gamer to enjoy surround sound audio- many single-player games benefit from it as well. Take a horror title like Alien: Isolation, where you’re sneaking through an abandoned space station and avoiding a predatory Xenomorph…now, imagine playing in a dark room, and hearing it come up behind you.

Surround sound makes that possible, whether you’re using a speaker or headset setup. Now, let’s talk about the difference between surround sound methods.

Difference Between Surround Sound Methods

Now, we’re going to discuss the difference between surround sound methods. If you paid close attention, you might have noticed that we don’t actually include any hardware 7.1 surround sound headsets, like the Razer Tiamat. There’s a very good reason for that, and you’ll understand it in just a minute.

Virtual (Standard)

First up, let’s talk about the standard for these headsets- virtual surround sound. Essentially, these are all stereo headsets accomplishing surround sound through software.

If you think of a speaker setup, a stereo is simply two speakers. They’re either side-by-side in front of you, or on either side of you. A surround setup adds more speakers to the mix- up to seven, in fact, hence the “7.1” surround sound name. (The .1 is for a subwoofer.) On the opposite end of the spectrum is a “mono” setup, which is just a single speaker, with no directional audio to speak of.

Now…before you write off virtual surround as just a gimmick, think about your ears. You have two of them, and unlike with speakers, a set of headphones is pressed directly against them. In a binaural audio setup like this one, spatial audio can very easily be achieved, even without a 7.1 setup in software or hardware.

With a good virtual surround solution, however, there is a significant improvement. Even if you don’t own a headset with the feature built-in, software like Dolby Atmos for Headphones can help improve your spatial audio experience.

Hardware (True 7.1)

Now, let’s talk hardware. Why isn’t this solution more popular, especially since it’s the “true” version of the technology?

Simply put…it kind of sucks. Specifically, it sucks because of physical limitations.

Think of your headphones as a pair of speakers, or drivers, one for each ear. This provides a stereo setup attached directly to your head. Generally-speaking, larger drivers achieve cleaner sound and superior bass. In order to achieve a true 7.1 surround sound solution in a headset, you have to stuff multiple smaller drives into a single earphone, rather than single, large unit.

This results in a significant loss in audio quality and, according to LinusTechTips, it doesn’t even work as well as traditional stereo/virtual surround!

This means that you’re better off getting a great stereo headset with good virtual surround software than an actual hardware solution, which will cost more and be worse. At that point, you’re just wasting your money. (If you still feel like hardware might be the better option, some enthusiasts claim that a discrete sound card can make the difference you’re looking for.)

Why Noise Cancellation Matters

Full disclosure: you won’t find any active noise cancelling gaming headsets. We searched as hard as we could, but unfortunately these don’t seem to be a thing. While a full active noise-cancelling headset would be good for gaming in theory, in practice it seems that you’re better off with dedicated gaming headsets or good old-fashioned headphones.

Fortunately, what we do have in most of these headsets is passive noise cancellation. Passive noise cancellation is purely a matter of physical form factor, and is accomplished by earcups creating a seal between your ears and the outside room. Combine that with great audio at a high volume, and you’ll be pretty well-isolated from outside noise. (And if you DO hear something through those headphones, chances are it’s something important.)

Mic and Mic Quality In Gaming Headsets

For many, the main selling point of a gaming headset is the built-in microphone. This saves you the trouble of wiring an additional microphone or attempting to use a desktop microphone over the sound you mashing keys. When using a console gaming headset, it may also just be your only option.

Unfortunately…most gaming headset mics are just passable. They’ll have a basic filter and noise-cancellation features, and good-enough-for-games voice quality. Until you reach the higher-end headsets, like the ones we’ve listed from Sennheiser, you shouldn’t expect particularly great mic quality.

Software Solutions

There are many software solutions for virtual surround available to gamers today. Generally-speaking, we recommend sticking with whatever software option came with your headset of choice. If you want to try something else, though, especially if you got one of the budget picks…here are our recommendations.

Windows Sonic – Decent option built right into Windows 10. Here’s how to enable it.

Razer Surround – Free option from Razer, also built into their headsets. Can be used with any pair of headphones, though.

An Alternative Option

Last but not least, let’s discuss an alternative option.

When it boils down to it, good audio is good audio, period. You don’t need “gaming” specific hardware to have a good experience in games. If you want most truly high-quality experience and your setup permits it, we recommend picking from one of our top closed back headphones picks and simply attaching a boom mic for a complete gaming headset experience.

Using one of the software solutions listed above, you can then build your own surround sound gaming headset. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

Christopher Harper is an up-and-coming tech writer with nearly a decade of experience (starting when he was 15!) and a genuine love for PC hardware, as well as tech and gaming at large. When he isn't writing, he works on fiction, YouTube videos, and competitive gaming.

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HeadphonesLab.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Additionally, HeadphonesLab.com participates in various other affiliate programs, and we sometimes get a commission through purchases made through our links.